After Podesta sends supporters home, Clinton calls Trump to concede

by Stephen Loiaconi

Wednesday, November 9th 2016

WASHINGTON (Sinclair Broadcast Group) Although Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta told disappointed supporters early Wednesday morning that the campaign is not ready to comment on the results of the race because votes in several states are currently too close to call, CNN and ABC News reported about a half hour later that Clinton had called Republican Donald Trump to concede.

Trump confirmed that upon taking the stage to deliver his victory speech.

“I just received a call from Secretary Clinton. She congratulated us, it’s about us, on our victory, and I congratulated her and her family on a very, very hard-fought campaign,” he said.

In a drastic shift from his calls for her to be imprisoned during the campaign, he added, “We owe her a major debt of gratitude for her service to our country.”

“We’re not going to have anything more to say tonight,” Podesta had told the gathered crowd at the Javits Center in New York City around 2 a.m. ET.

As of 2:30 a.m., the Associated Press was projecting that Trump had secured enough electoral votes to become the next president.

After Podesta left the stage, CNN reported Clinton does not plan to speak to the public tonight.

At Trump's victory party, supporters began heckling reporters who had criticized Trump for refusing to say he would concede if he lost the election. A winner has not officially been called, but Clinton's potential path to victory is nearly non-existent.

Earlier in the night, Clinton's campaign tweeted thanks to her supporters.